


Somewhere Along the Way

by kaz_u



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Avatar Hinata, Kageyama Tobio & Oikawa Tooru Are Related, M/M, Minor Violence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, avatar AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:01:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28179525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaz_u/pseuds/kaz_u
Summary: Tobio's brother has abandoned him on his quest to the Northern Water Tribe, his ship has capsized, and now he's stranded in the middle of the South Pole. He stumbles across a talkative airbender trapped in an iceberg.Meanwhile, Oikawa Tooru, Prince of the Fire Nation, is not on his way to the North Pole. Rather, he's on a quest to track down the missing Avatar, in hopes of bringing about the end to the Hundred Year War.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28





	1. Tobio's Terrible Day

**Author's Note:**

> hi hi here's a little Avatar AU I wanted to try writing lol, not sure how far along I'll get but I hope you enjoy! this first chapter is more of a prologue :)

_Tobio-chan,_

_Sorry for the short notice, but our ship’s capacity has been completely filled! Seems like you’re going to have to stay behind, sucks for you! Don’t worry though, I’ll bring you some seal jerky or something from the Northern Water Tribe, you can’t get that anywhere else in the world you know, so you’d better be appreciative of it! I’m going out of my way here for you!_

_If Father asks, I had to bring along Iwa-chan! Tell him I know he told me not to, but Iwa-chan has been feeling sick lately so I’m taking him with us so we can find some top-notch healers from our chilly friends up north. You understand, don’t you? I can’t let my best friend die!!! Besides, I’m sure you’ll find some way to occupy yourself at home. You’re a big boy now, I feel like it was yesterday when you burned the ball Mother gave me to a crisp. I know Iwa-chan keeps telling me it was ‘"_ just an accident," _and "_ for fucks sake he was two years old Oikawa," _but I’m still really mad at you for that!_

_By the time you’re reading this I’ll probably be gone and you’re going to burn this scroll. I trust you not to show this to Father, okay Tobio-chan?_

_See you soon,_

_Tooru_

-

As per his older brother’s instructions, Tobio burned the letter and kicked the ashes under his bed. He thought he had the right to be a little peeved after being told on such short notice-- He’d already finished packing everything by the time the scroll slipped quietly under his door.

Tobio immediately moved to open the door when this happened, however found it was locked.

"Tooru-san?"

Tooru had already left judging by the lack of response… His brother wasn’t exactly known for his silence. Trying the door again, Tobio felt frustration bubble out of him in the form of a blast of fire from his mouth, standing back and letting the flames consume the door until a black scorch mark marred the golds and reds.

He whirled around and set his curtains on fire for good measure, before plopping down on his bed and burying his face into the pillow. Fourteen was probably too old to be having a tantrum, but he’d always have a bit of a temper. 

Later that day a servant would come into his room to find him asleep despite thinking it would be unoccupied. The poor girl nearly screamed in surprise at the sight of the Prince and the blazing curtains, but Tobio didn’t stir. In fact, he wasn’t even asleep. He was staring out of his bedroom window where he had a clear view of the boats docked by the shores. Oikawa’s had left a long time ago.

“Kindaichi-sama,” He’d hear the servant say a little later. “F-Fire! Help, there’s a fire in his majesty’s room!!”

Kindaichi Yuutarou was a person that Tobio would never have found himself interacting with if it weren’t for school. Tobio thought he was kind of a crybaby and the way he wore his hair made him look like a vegetable. But the Kindaichi family were the governors of Fire Fountain City, and his father made it clear that he had to at least be on good terms with their only son.

A sizzling sound made Tobio look up from his pillow, and he was met with a glare from the other boy. There was a bucket in his hands.

“What are you doing setting your curtains on fire?” Kindaichi snapped. “Were you planning on having the whole palace melt to the ground?”

Tobio shrugged, going back to sulking into his pillow.

He listened to Kindaichi shift awkwardly, before sighing and sitting down on the bed next to him. Tobio almost smiled… He could be such a pushover.

“Why aren’t you with Oikawa-san?” 

“He locked me in here.”

“Oh,” Kindaichi almost sounded sorry. “So what’re you gonna do?”

Tobio looked up at him and frowned at Kindaichi’s sympathetic expression. “Why do you care?” 

“Aren’t we friends?” Kindaichi said, scrunching up his nose in offense. “At least, that’s what my dad says we have to be. So tell me what’s on your mind.”

Tobio frowned even deeper. Were they friends? He wasn’t sure about that, the only friend he could think of was Tooru-san, but even then he’d been acting distant from him recently. Whatever.

“I don’t wanna stay here,” Tobio mumbled, peeling himself off his stomach and sitting up. “I’ve never been to the North Pole before.”

“Well,” Kindaichi began, “You can’t just follow your brother. Why do you even want to go to the North Pole anyways, it’s probably terrible up there. I hear the temperatures can make your skin crack open if you aren’t used to it.”

“It’s ‘cause of the lack of humidity, not the cold.”

Kindaichi immediately perked up at the new voice, Kunimi Akira poking his head into the room. Another person Tobio would never find himself interacting with if it weren’t for school.

Kunimi was lazy, and it was probably what Tobio liked the least about him. Sometimes he’d find the boy asleep by the edge of the koi pond, or he’d be hiding during sparring practice and Tobio would have to wait for hours while his tutor tried hunting him down. It was super annoying, but he was still the son of a nobleman that was a known donor to the royal family, so his father expected him to be on good terms with him as well.

Kunimi crossed his arms, raising an unimpressed eyebrow at Tobio. “What’s he still doing here? Oikawa-san just departed.”

At the mention of his brother Tobio felt his mood boil again, but he forced it down for the sake of his new company. Still, he could tell there was a nasty expression on his face his father would disapprove of.

“I think he left without him, I dunno why,” Kindaichi shrugged.  
  
“Huh,” Kunimi seemed to be trying to bite back saying something mean. Tobio watched his face contort like he’d just eaten bitter melon. “Well, that sucks I guess. It’s lunchtime though, so we’d better get going.”

Tobio scratched at his arm. “I think…” He spoke up softly. “I’m gonna follow him.”

Kunimi’s tone was sarcastic, “What, you’re gonna steal a Fire Nation boat and sail after him?”

Tobio hadn’t thought about transportation, he was actually considering just sneaking aboard someone else’s boat. Though he supposed having his own made sense considering he would have to have to take a unique route.

“Akira, don’t give him ideas,” Kindaichi scolded.  
  
“The fuck, he’s not actually going to steal a whole ship…” Kunimi’s blank expression slowly began morphing into realization. “Tobio, please don’t tell me you’re actually going to steal a whole ship.”

“I think it would be easy, Father wouldn’t notice an extra one missing,” Tobio nodded, like he’d already made up his mind. Kindaichi looked five seconds away from a meltdown.

“W-Wait, seriously? Your dad’s gonna kill you!” He hissed, grabbing at the ends of his hair (a tough feat considering it was slicked so high up).

“Well, technically he’s supposed to be gone already, I guess. He just won’t be with his brother. It could be an independence thing,” Kunimi added. “You’d still need to learn how to steer a ship though.”

“I can figure it out.”

“No you _can’t_ , Tobio,” Kindaichi sounded exasperated, and Tobio is still not sure why he’s so against the idea. “Akira, stop encouraging this.”

“He’s a prodigy or whatever right? So he’ll figure it out.”

“Yeah, at _firebending_ , not at maritime piloting!”

“It can’t be that hard.” Tobio was still unsure why Kindaichi was so against the idea. “You don’t have to come if you’re scared.”  
  
“Who the hell said he’s going with you,” Kunimi said, still in the same bored tone. “You can handle yourself.”

“Akira, if he dies we’re gonna be in so much trouble,” Kindaichi pointed out, and there was a glossy sheen of panic in his eyes. He grabbed his friend by the shoulders, shaking him slightly. “We have to make sure Tobio doesn’t die.”

“I’m not gonna die,” Tobio said, tilting his head to the side. “Why’re you guys talking like I’m not right here?”

Kunimi’s face wrinkled in disgust. “I’m not staying on a smelly ship for _months_ , Yuu.”

“We just have to find Oikawa-san’s ship and drop him off, and then we can go home,” Kindaichi placated. “Come on, I can’t do this alone.”

“I’m still here,” Tobio called out. The two were way closer to each other than they were to him, and it wasn’t that he really cared, it was just annoying sometimes.

Kindaichi’s hands were still on his shoulders, and Kunimi stared back at him, unimpressed. Though the taller boy’s puppy dog eyes seemed to win him over in the end, Kunimi sighing heavily and jerking away with flushed cheeks. “Whatever. But if we get lost and die we're blaming Tobio.”

-

Tobio watches as his only two friends in the world retreat into the distance, armed with a rowboat and three week’s worth of supplies. His fingers trail through the scorch marks on the side of the ship, and he can’t keep the sneer off of his face. Tooru would say that it’s unbecoming of a prince to have such an ugly expression, but he doesn’t care because Tooru isn’t here, he left him behind, and he’s totally alone.

He’s not even in the North Pole, because it turned out none of the three sheltered fourteen-year-olds onboard really knew how to operate a compass, and now he’s somehow wound up in the South Pole instead. He doesn’t even know if there’s any life left out here, a result of the Fire Nation’s search for every single waterbender alive. Like they did with the airbenders, like they’re going to do with the earthbenders, until all that’s left is a blazing hot planet of fire.

Tobio punches the window he’s looking out of, and screams as the glass shatters.

-

It isn’t his fault that he raised his voice, Tobio thinks as he curls up under the steering wheel of the ship. It isn’t his fault that Kindaichi is stupid and Kunimi doesn’t care enough to try. 

It was probably the smallest, saddest mutiny in history. Kindaichi started yelling at him while Tobio screamed back, feeling flames licking at the lining of his throat before the fire from his hands singed the tips of Kindaichi’s hair. Good, it was getting on his nerves anyways.

" _Fuck this shit!_ "

Kunimi decided at that moment to come up from behind him to slam the butt of a spear pole into the back of his head. Tobio crumpled to the floor as white stars burst into his vision.

" _We're leaving_ now. _Yuu, get it together, let's go._ "

 _Good for them_ , Tobio thought, because he passed out before the fire could leave his throat.

-

Turns out steering a ship is a lot harder than it looks. Kunimi mostly took over that job while Tobio and Kindaichi bickered over directions, but now he has to do both.

He has no idea how to turn it back around, and he has even less of an idea of what to do about the rapids that are sweeping him into a current that he can’t back out of.

Small, desperate noises escape his mouth involuntarily as he tries flicking every switch and lever possible to right the course of the ship. There’s a large mass of ice at the end of the rapids, and holy shit he thinks his head is going to explode from pain, fuck you Kunimi-

“Shit, shit, shit,” Tobio curses, opting to scramble out of the control room and onto the upper deck of the ship. Maybe he can minimize the damage by melting the ice… He’s good at firebending, he can probably do it in time.

Tobio quickly ascends the ladder to the highest portion of the ship, a watchtower that none of them really went into because there was no point when it was all just open ocean. He watches the water swirling under the ship, the iceberg taunting him as he takes a deep breath and blows.

Familiar, comforting warmth surrounds him as he uses his firebending, and he speeds up the process by pumping blue flames at the ice with his hands. It’s working, surprisingly, but not really because the iceberg is way too big and the rapids are way too fast. He’s still just one person after all, and the frustration in his chest makes his fire expand. 

When the pointed edge of the ship crashes into the ice, he feels everything collapsing underneath him. Tobio grabs at the side of the watch tower as the metal of the ship groans and starts shooting up at him. The entire ship is suddenly shaped like an accordion, Tobio realizes as he looks down, and it would be funny if his grip didn’t slacken due to the piece of metal slamming into his back and propelling him into the air.

A strangled scream that he can’t hear over the sound of screeching metal escapes his mouth, and his fall is broken by the iceberg that ruined everything. Tobio groans as his already pounding head slams into the ice, and his body slumps down onto the large, flat plane atop the glacial mass.

He can barely sit up to survey the damage, his head is spinning and he feels like he’s going to throw up. Praying that he doesn’t have a concussion or something, Tobio rolls over onto his stomach and squishes his forehead into the ice in hopes it will alleviate his pounding headache.

Throughout the entire ordeal, Tobio had his eyes closed like it would make everything go by faster. He finally opens his eyes, listening to the burble burble of his ship sinking into the water. So much for following his brother, he supposes.

Blurriness greets him when his eyes are open, however throughout the haze that is his scrambled up brain, Tobio sees something orange. He pushes himself up by his elbows, slipping on the ice as the world around him starts spinning. He focuses by keeping his head down, squinting at the orange thing in the ice.

He thought it was just the reflection of his crimson-black armor at first, however upon closer inspection it’s actually inside of the iceberg. With curiosity getting the better of him, he stands up and wanders over to investigate the side of the iceberg. 

He nearly trips over the large crack running along the icy ground. It must be from the pointed end of his ship slamming into it. Oddly enough, the iceberg itself seems to be unaffected by the raging rapids swirling around it. It makes Tobio wonder what could be hiding in there.

Tobio lays down on his stomach because he really feels like he’s going to puke again. With a groan, he pushes himself to the side of the iceberg and leans over to see what’s inside.

A gasp escapes his mouth at the sight, and then nausea makes him scramble back on top only for him to finally throw up in the water.

A _person’s_ in there. He only saw them upside down, but it looked like a boy with fiery orange hair sitting cross-legged.

Tobio grimaces at the vile taste in his mouth, wiping saliva from his chin before concentrating on his new task; Get the boy out, and don’t pass out on top of the iceberg miles away from civilization.

He sits up and his head feels slightly clearer with something to focus on. Without adrenaline pumping wildly through his body like it had been on the boat, Tobio can feel his chi circulating, pooling into his arms and extending through his fingertips as heat. Fire forms at the ends of his hands, the pretty blue kind that Tobio had learned to do one day by accident. Now with a blazing hot blade, Tobio stands up and backs away from the crack in the iceberg.

He squares his feet before rearing his hand back, slamming it down in a chopping motion and letting the condensed projection of fire eat through the crack in the ice.

He watches steam rise immediately into the air, and a cracking sound makes him sway before he crashes to the ground. The fire cuts through the ice, and the crack widens until it is underneath his body. Tobio scrambles to one side before the entire iceberg is suddenly split in two.

“Shit!” He exclaims, more out of excitement than fear. A beam of light shoots out of the crack before he starts slipping, and Tobio is shouting as he tries to grip onto something. His hands are slipping on the ice, and even his firebending won’t help as it just turns everything to water. He’s in the air again, plummeting towards icy, rapidly moving waters that are way more unforgiving than an iceberg. 

Before he can meet his demise, he meets the gaze of the boy in the ice. His blank eyes seem to stare into his soul as he starts floating, higher and higher into the beam of light.

 _I definitely have a concussion_ , Tobio thinks as his head hits the water and the shock makes everything go numb.

-

The first thing Hinata Shouyou did not expect to see upon waking was a boy slipping off the side of his iceberg and tumbling ungracefully into the water.

He also did not expect his body to react the way it did, his arms creating unfamiliar push and pull motions, redirecting the currents of the raging river around him to pull the bobbing body of the boy to shore. A gentle wave pushes him onto the snowy shores a little further away.

There’s so much light around him that Shouyou can’t really see past his own hands, and yet he can _feel_ everything around him. He feels the river, feels the droplets of water running down hills of snow in the distance, feels the total utter lack of warmth in this place other than in the boy in the water.

The light dissipates, and he begins floating down. Away from his iceberg (he supposes it’s more just an open cavern of ice now) and following after the boy. The cold winds whip at his face, yet Shouyou feels warmth as his feet touch the snowy ground.

The light is gone, and he shivers as his knees buckle and he collapses next to the boy passed out on the shores.

“Now we’re even,” Shouyou murmurs, his cheek pressing into the snow and eyes fluttering closed.


	2. Journey Into the South Pole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boy in the iceberg wakes up, and a beam of light signals a Fire Nation ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i changed the summary a little!! i might change it a couple times until i find one i like sdkshdfsdf

Tobio has been awake for a couple hours now, and the sun had set a while ago. His teeth are chattering while he warms his hand by the fire created with firebending and pieces of driftwood he found floating by in the river.

His companion is still asleep, and Tobio had shifted him so that he’s lying closer to the fire. He still looks as cold as he did when Tobio woke up, shivering with his face smushed into the snow. Tobio had resisted the urge to touch his hair when he dragged him by the makeshift fire. It almost matches the flames.

He’s also noticed tattoos on the boy’s body, on his hands and peaking out from under his wild hair in the shape of arrows. Like in the Air Nomads defeated a century ago. Tobio has never done great in his history lessons, but he recognizes those markings from one of the textbooks his tutor made him read through.

Tobio has been cradling the same burst of fire in his palms ever since the sun disappeared over the horizon, bouncing it from hand to hand like a dangerous ball. He has no clue what he’s going to do now. It has just begun to set in that his ship is gone, all of his supplies swirling down an unforgiving cold river that he’d just barely survived getting out of himself. Now all he has is a boy who possibly has hypothermia and himself who probably has a concussion.

How is he supposed to find Tooru now? A sinking feeling in his stomach extinguishes the fire in his hands and he draws his knees up to his chest. He wonders what Kindaichi and Kunimi are up to. Maybe they’re already back in the Fire Nation, and he’s here moments from curling up and freezing to death.

He supposes he got what he wished for, a journey that challenged his boundaries and forced him to see the world. He just wishes he has his brother as a condescending, but still comforting presence beside him.

“Urgh… Wha…?”

Tobio snaps his head to the side to watch the boy sit up, his brown eyes blinking around the area in confusion.

The last time the boy’s eyes were open, they were pure white, Tobio recalls. It was unnerving, but not as unnerving as the blank stare the boy settles on him now with deep amber eyes. Tobio finds himself scooting away from him and the fire, narrowing his eyes in what he hopes is an intimidating expression as cold air hits the back of his neck.

“Woah,” The boy says breathlessly. “Are you a king or something?”

Tobio frowns. “No, I’m a prince.”

“I’ve never met royalty before!” The boy exclaims, a smile spreading across his face. The glow of the fire next to him makes his hair almost blend into the background, a tough feat to accomplish.

“I’m Hinata Shouyou, What’s your name?” He bounces up to his feet while Tobio is still staring at him warily.

“... Tobio,” He replies.

“Tobio,” Hinata repeats, like he’s rolling his name around on his tongue to see how it fits. “I don’t suppose you have a ship or something… I left my bison back at the temple, and I don’t think I can fly all the way back there by myself.”

Temple, bison, fly… Tobio can’t comprehend this right now if he tries. He straightens his legs and leans back, head cushioned by a hard mound of snow. Maybe the concussion he’s been sporting is really starting to mess with him if this guy is claiming to be an Air Nomad right now.

“Are you okay?” Hinata bounces into his field of view, leaning down so that his fiery orange hair frames the edges of his face.

“Hit my head,” Tobio grunts, and Hinata frowns.

“Should-- I don’t know what to do,” Hinata frets. “D’you think it’s serious?”

“It’s probably less serious than whatever you’ve got from coming out of an iceberg.”

“Well, I feel fine,” Hinata sounds offended for some reason, and Tobio’s mind feels like it’s going too slow to figure out what he said wrong. Stupid Kunimi. They really could have waited for him to fall asleep rather than hitting him unconscious. It would’ve stung a little less, probably.

“Why do you have hair?” Tobio blurts out instead. He feels his face twist immediately after, wincing at how blunt that sounded. Tooru-san always tells him to be more careful with his words.

Hinata blinks at him, wide-eyed and raises his hand to feel at the top of his head. “Woah! My hair grew back! That’s…”  
He trails off, expression slipping into a frown as he straightens up. “Huh… How long has it been?”

“Since what?”

“You know! Since I got stuck in there,” Hinata gestures to the mound of ice still stuck in the middle of the river. “I can’t really remember…”  
Tobio turns on his side to face Hinata, putting an arm under his head. “I don’t know. Your iceberg ruined my ship though, so I don’t know how to help you. Sorry.”

“You had a ship?” Hinata squints at him. “What about your crew?”

A bitter feeling crawls up his throat and he sees a little rowboat disappearing into the distance. He squeezes his eyes shut. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Oh, sorry,” Hinata says softly, and it’s the first time Tobio has heard his voice go that quiet in the ten minutes he’s been awake. “Well… I think I need to go back to my family, and you need to go home too, right? Do your princely stuff?”

“I’m not going back home,” The statement surprises Tobio, and he opens his eyes. “I-I…”

He thinks about his brother, how he so desperately wants to catch up to him it makes his throat hurt with burning desire. He’s always been so much better than him in everything, academics, physical prowess, even firebending in some aspects. There’s a nagging fear in the back of his mind, that if he stays in the same stuffy palace with servants who are scared of him and friends who hate him, he’ll never be able to reach his level, he will never be good enough.

“I need to get to the North Pole,” Tobio says, determined gleam in his eyes as he flips onto his back to stare up at the faint stars littering the sky as the sun disappears. The nighttime is nice here, Tobio realizes. The Fire Nation’s assortment of lights and lanterns hides the sky, giving it an orange hue. He’s never seen stars before. “And I don’t want to go back home yet.”

“Hey! That’s where I’m heading too!” Hinata yells. Tobio winces at how loud he is. “But I’ve gotta get back to the temple to check on my family first.”

He doesn’t know if the kid is dense or stupid or he’s trying to avoid the obvious. That the Air Nomads have been gone for a century and Tobio doesn’t know what to say. Does he know? Would he hate him if he told him that his father is planning on extinguishing the rest of the planet like they did with his people?

Tobio looks down, his bangs hanging over his eyes, topknot having come loose a long time ago. Maybe it’s selfish, but he doesn’t know how to make the words come out of his mouth. That he should probably cancel his trip to the air temple, because all he’ll find are bones and rubble.

The thought of being left alone in this place, cold and desolate and devoid of life due to the actions of his ancestors years ago… Tobio shivers, and he decides he doesn’t want to say it. Not yet.

“Hey, Tobio, what direction did the sun set in?” Hinata asks. Tobio squints, then points down the river at a large structure of ice he remembers the sun disappearing behind.

“Okay, I think my temple is south of here, so let’s head away from that,” Hinata nods, then spins around to reach a hand towards Tobio. “Maybe we’ll find someone who can help us!”

He wonders why Hinata is being so friendly to him when he barely knows anything about him, maybe he’s lonely too. Regardless, Tobio grabs the boy’s hand and is pulled to his feet.

It feels warm against his freezing skin.

-

Iwaizumi Hajime is fucking done with this whole excursion.

Oikawa asks so much of him. Honestly he’s surprised that he hasn’t ditched the little shit yet in their thirteen years of friendship. The amount of times he’s come close to chucking him over the side of the ship in the past few days alone would be concerning if that wasn’t just the nature of their friendship.

Not only is he stuck in the middle of the ocean, the whole crew has learned the hard way that Hanamaki has horrible seasickness, so now he has to listen to one of the most powerful firebenders onboard throwing up his breakfast every other hour into the poor ocean.

Hanamaki Takahiro is the son of a nobleman, and Hajime met him through Oikawa at school years ago. He watches him and Oikawa spar sometimes from the sidelines, but he knows he doesn’t take the matches as seriously as the Fire Prince does. He often throws up a metaphorical white flag whenever Oikawa starts trying out the bombastic moves that are way beyond their training level. Hajime can sympathize with the pink-haired bender, who always looks like he’s ready to run over and choke Oikawa to death when he starts spitting fire wheels from his mouth while creating red-orange tornadoes with his hands.

Hajime used to spar with them as well, but ever since Hajime learned how to incapacitate benders he’s been banned from practicing with them after Oikawa whined about it being unfair. Hajime thinks that having the ability to _create fire_ is inherently unfair, and all he’s doing is leveling the playing field.

Hajime leans over the railing and is scowling at the blocks of ice surrounding their ship. He can’t believe he’s missing the Fire Nation already, but he’s never been a fan of colder temperatures. 

Oikawa just has a way of persuading him into doing anything he wants, even when Hajime knows it’s completely batshit insane. Like when he was told to steal a pair of broadswords from his father’s study purely because Oikawa thought it looked cool and had wanted to try it out. He still has no clue how he convinced him into doing that, and Hajime is eternally pissed at Oikawa for the resulting scolding he’d received after his father noticed the weapons were missing.

Hell, he’s _still_ pissed off at having to feign an illness for the last few days he’d been in the Fire Nation, to the point where even his father, typically absent most of the time, noticed. Somehow the fucking _Fire Lord_ caught wind of his “condition”, and Oikawa had successfully convinced two of the most dangerous men in the world to allow Hajime to tag along on his excursion to the North Pole.

He really needs to get better at saying no to Oikawa. One day the little brat’s going to be holding a dagger to his throat, saying that he’s going to use his firebending to cauterize the wound, and Hajime will agree because he doesn’t want to impede Oikawa's firebending progress. It frustrates him to no end.

“You trying to metalbend the railing or something, Iwaizumi?”

Hajime lets go of a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, slackening his grip on the railing. “Metalbending doesn’t exist, Matsukawa.”

Matsukawa Issei is significantly lower on the social totem pole compared to Hajime and Hanamaki, only being the son of a servant residing in the Royal Palace. Hajime can’t remember how he met Oikawa (Matsukawa likes to fuck with him and changes the story every time), but he knows that once he joined their little friend group, Hajime felt relief at no longer being the only nonbender. He’s the type of person that doesn’t take things too seriously, and Hajime is glad to have someone like him around when Oikawa has been so high strung lately it’s like he has a firecracker lit under his ass ready to go at any second.

He’s essentially a stowaway, hiding inside a crate of dragon fruits. It was a difficult feat to accomplish, and Hanamaki and Hajime had to help shove the man’s gangly limbs amongst the fruit before squeezing the top shut. Once they were far enough away from the Fire Nation, Oikawa offered him armor for him to change into, wrinkling his nose at the smell of sweet turned rancid dragon fruit juice staining his clothes.

“Has Makki finished throwing up yet?” Matsukawa turns towards the pink-haired boy, who’s entire upper body is leaning precariously over the side of the railing at this point.

“I’m fine,” Hanamaki calls out shakily, voice faint due to the wind.

“He’s not,” Hajime whispers. “You know, if we were really in the North Pole we could probably find a healer to fix this. All there is around here is ice and penguins.”

Matsukawa smiles, putting his chin in his hand. “You know Oikawa… Never does anything half-assed.”

Hajime snorts. As if searching for the fucking Avatar is half-assed. As if planning his search from the very bottom of the world and scaling up to the tippy top is half-assed. He’s right, everything Oikawa does there’s so much insane effort behind it that Hajime gets tired watching him sometimes. He’s like a candle that burns too bright, a wreck that Hajime can’t look away from.

It’s so endearing yet it pisses him off at the same time. Though he supposes he’s the real sucker for getting roped into his schemes so often.

“Yahoo!”

Hajime turns his head, only for an arm to sling over his neck and practically choke him. He grunts, slapping the offending limb and glares at his attacker. Matsukawa is trapped in a similar state, but due to his height he’s only leaning down without much difficulty. He hates tall people.

“How are my two out of three favorite people?” Oikawa says jubilantly. He’s donned in the same armor that he’d left the Fire Nation in, even though there’s really no point in it since the only thing they have to worry about around here is a possible hostile penguin. He thinks he’s just wearing it for the aesthetic. It does make his hair look nice.

“I think Makki’s throwing up his small intestine at this point,” Matsukawa gestures to the firebender off to the side of the trio.

“He’s fine! Right Makki?” Oikawa calls out as Hajime slips under his arm. Hanamaki doesn’t reply, Hajime worries momentarily that he’s slipped over the railing and tumbled into the ocean.

Hajime looks over at the pink-haired firebender, who is staring wordlessly at something in the distance. “Guys…”

Matsukawa sighs. “Dude, you’re seriously going to get dehydrated or something if you keep throwing up, maybe you should go inside and lie down-”

“No, _look_!” Makki cuts him off. The three turn their heads towards the scenery before them.

There’s a beam of light coming from something further down the icy river they’re coursing through. It shoots into the sky, and Hajime tilts his head up to see it piercing through the clouds as well.

“The fuck is that?” Matsukawa blurts out. “Lightbending?”

“Stop making shit up,” Hajime admonishes. He looks over to his immediate left and the Fire Prince is gaping, eyes shining as the wind tousels through his perfect hair.  
“It’s the Avatar,” Oikawa whispers. His voice is so soft that it has turned gravelly, but a wide grin spreads across his face when he continues, “Iwa-chan! It’s the _Avatar_!”

“Are you sure?” Matsukawa says, raising a thick eyebrow.

“Whatever it is, it’s giving me a headache,” Hanamaki grumbles, turning away from the sight and rubbing at his temples. Matsukawa breaks away from Oikawa’s grasp to check their friend.

Hajime wants to say that it could just be a flare from a rogue Fire Nation ship, it could just be the way the light is reflecting in the dim lighting that makes it look so mystical. But he feels hope swell in his chest for the first time in what feels like forever, and he can’t find it in himself to retort when Oikawa looks so _excited_.

He remembers the papers, books, articles, everything Oikawa could get his hands on about the disappearance of Avatar Udai Tenma, dumped onto his sprawling bed. They were twelve years old, and Hajime had grumbled when Oikawa dragged him into his bedroom because all he wanted to do was go to sleep, not _read_. He remembers watching Oikawa’s eyes under candlelight when he talked about finding the Avatar one day. He remembers the way he watched a grin light up Oikawa’s illuminated face while marking up the map they’d use to navigate one day.

“ _We’re gonna find him, Iwa-chan_ ,” Oikawa had said softly, like spies could be lurking outside of his bedchambers as they conducted their top secret research.

“ _What makes you so sure?_ ” Hajime had asked, looking up from his own article about turtles and the Avatar state.

Oikawa’s smile was genuine then, like a candle, Hajime had thought. Way too bright. 

“ _If Iwa-chan is with me, we can do anything_!”

So Hajime says, “Well, staring at it won’t make us go any faster. Let’s keep moving.”

Oikawa finally tears his eyes away from the light, and the way he’s looking at Hajime makes his heart skip a beat as he starts walking to the cockpit. Stupid firebenders, he hates how they seem to eternally exude warmth.

-

Tobio is starting to think that all fourteen-year-olds just have zero sense of direction.

After a brief argument over which way is actually south and a pit stop Hinata made them take to pet a stray penguin, they came to a compromise to give up on the direction thing and start traveling towards what seems like a plume of smoke in the distance. Tobio has long since forgotten which way the sun had set, and he’s hoping whoever the fire belongs to will be able to give them a place to stay for the night so they can try again in the morning.

Hinata is _talkative_ , though Tobio surmised that from the first ten minutes of their encounter. He doesn’t seem to mind that Tobio speaks gruffly, or only replies with clipped sentences. It’s nice to not have to speak so formally for once. Tooru would have probably chastised him for being rude, but Tooru isn’t here, so Tobio can do whatever he wants.

They talk about Hinata’s temple, and he goes in depth about bison polo, a game that Tobio has never heard of before but apparently was so widespread they’d have national championships for it every year at the Northern Air Temple. Tobio brings up kuai ball in turn, a game that he’s seen his older brother play with his friends every summer when they visited Ember Island.

“I can’t believe you had vacations every summer,” Hinata says, then visibly deflates. “I haven’t been on vacation in like, years. I’ve been in the air temple for _forever_.”

“Why did you decide to leave?” Tobio asks.

“The monks told me I had to stay if I wanted to get better at airbending,” Hinata kicks at a patch of snow. “I didn’t mind it, I really like bending! But I’m already as good as I can be, I think, and I had to go because I needed to do more important stuff than waste away in a temple all day.”

Tobio understands, and the sentiment is so reminiscent of his own situation that it kind of scares him. He turns away and scrunches his eyebrows together. 

“You wanted to grow stronger?” Tobio mumbles, and he hears Hinata perk up beside him.  
“Yeah!” Hinata says. “I’m gonna be one of the most powerful benders ever. At least, that’s what the monks told me.”

Tobio scowls, feeling heat churning in his stomach. “You can’t just say that without anything to back it up.”

“Well, it’s true,” Hinata huffs. “I just… I’m not great yet, but you’ll see, one day.”

“My father says I’m going to be a strong weapon when I get older,” Tobio says, looking up at the stars. “Because I’m really good at firebending.”

“A weapon?” Hinata wrinkles his nose, voice faint. “Your dad sounds terrible.”

“Hey,” Tobio looks at him, narrowing his eyes. “Don’t say that.”

“Why? What kind of dad says their kid’s gonna be a weapon?” Hinata is shaking his head. “My mom knew what the monks told me, but she told me not to worry about it. Because it’s a ton of pressure, you know, being told you’re gonna be the one to save the world, but she didn’t like me having to fight…”

There’s something off about that statement, but Tobio’s head is still fuzzy so he doesn’t have the opportunity to delve deeper into it. Instead he says, “Those monks sound like they’re full of bullshit. How’d they deduce that just by looking at you?”

Hinata has a strange look on his face. “Yeah, that’s what I thought too.”

They lapse into silence, and Tobio knows he isn’t the best at reading people but Hinata suddenly looks downtrodden. It feels weird for him to be quiet for so long, like he’s a machine that’s just run out of steam.

Tobio clears his throat, “I’ve never seen airbending before.”

Hinata grins and holds up his hand to flick a blast of wind into his face. It makes the fire sway dangerously to one side and blows his bangs up from his forehead.

Tobio stares at him, unimpressed. “I hope you can do cooler stuff than that.”

“I totally can!” Hinata huffs. He detaches the wooden stick that has been sticking out from the back of his clothes ever since he’d escaped the iceberg. “Watch this, Tobio! This is the best thing about airbending-- Flying!”

Tobio stands back as Hinata hits the stick against the ground, orange-red flaps ejecting from the sides so that it looks like a set of wings. The airbender turns his head to grin at Tobio before he creates a torrent of wind with his glider and jumps, soaring up and up into the night sky.

The fire in Tobio’s hand grows against his will as he stares up in awe at Hinata weaving around the stars. He looks like a crow, Tobio thinks, the dark sky covering him in shadow.

“Tobio! I see tents! If we keep following the smoke, we’ll find people!” Hinata’s voice somehow carries from where he is yards in the sky.

His glider allows him to weave through the sky, spinning in circular motions as he gives small whoops of joy. Tobio thinks he really belongs up there amongst the stars, and he feels burning bitterness rise in the back of his throat at the realization that Hinata is the only person in the world left that is able to experience that kind of freedom.

-

It’s been dark out for a while now, because here in the South Pole the days are shorter than he’s used to in the Fire Nation. Hajime can’t help but think that if they’re ambushed by a gaggle of waterbenders that they’re going to be completely screwed.

“I’m pretty sure it came from somewhere around here,” Hanamaki has lit a ball of fire in his hands as he eagerly scrambles off of the ship, relief coloring his face as his boots plop onto land. “I remember that penis-shaped block of ice over there.”

Matsukawa snorts and Hajime tries not to smile. He’s right, it’s just a rather pathetic looking dick.

“You guys are so crude,” Oikawa scoffs. “We’re going to find the freaking _Avatar_ and all you can do is point out dick formations in the ice?”

Hanamaki blatantly ignores him, “Okay, quiz time guys! Whose dick looks the most like that?”

“Oikawa,” Hajime offers instantly.

“ _Iwa-Chan!_ ” Oikawa screeches, face turning splotchy. “It does _not_ look like that!”

“ _Fire Lord_ Oikawa,” Matsukawa amends.

The three bust out howling in laughter while Oikawa looks mortified. “ _Gross_ , that’s my _dad_ you freaks!”

“What, you’re gonna arrest us for treason?”

“I’ll throw _you_ in the cells once we get back on the ship, Iwa-chan!”

“Stop, please, I can’t keep thinking about the Fire Lord’s dick,” Hanamaki wheezes. Matsukawa slaps him on the back as he’s struggling to regain his breath.

The three eventually calm down with a frazzled Oikawa leading the charge towards the source of the light. Hajime is hovering near Hanamaki for warmth, and is wondering how his friends aren’t freezing their asses off right now, looking like they’re standing in sand at the beach rather than unforgiving snow in the middle of the South Pole. He begins rubbing his hands together while watching his breath come in cold puffs of smoke.

“What do you think we should say when we find him?” Oikawa begins after a brief silence.

“Hey man, did you know you’re totally an unsolved mystery now? If you came back you’d probably give the Fire Lord a heart attack just by being in your presence,” Matsukawa says. Hajime thinks it’s especially unfair that Matsukawa is unfazed by the weather since he’s a nonbender as well, but he’s also standing so close to Hanamaki they might as well be holding hands, sucking up the firebender’s heat like a tall, thick-eyebrowed leech.

“Mattsun, you are not saying ‘Hey man’ when we meet the Avatar. Am I the only one who thinks this is super cool?”

“Shouldn’t he be old and decrepit by now?” Hanamaki points out. “For all we know we’re just going to stumble across a skeleton.”

“... He has to be alive,” Oikawa says, gaze distant. “Because if he isn’t, then the Fire Nation has officially broken the Avatar cycle.”

The group fall silent at the words, hanging heavily like rain in storm clouds before a typhoon.

“Hey,” Hajime cracks a hesitant smile. “We’ll find something, Oikawa.”

Hajime isn’t typically a very hopeful person, Oikawa kind of just brings it out of him. Right now, as he watches Hanamaki and Matsukawa share the same apprehensive glance, he knows that the likelihood of Avatar Udai Tenma being still alive after a hundred years is near impossible. Even more impossible is the chance for him to have been reborn in the time he’s been gone into the Air Nomads, because the Fire Nation had decided to stop that from happening one hundred years ago. Hajime always assumed the Avatar had been reborn, but they had been murdered along with the rest of the population, leaving only four desolate air temples as evidence of their existence.

Oikawa glances back and gives him a tiny smile. “Yeah, we’ll find something, Iwa-chan.” 

“We’ll find something too, _Matsukawa_ ,” Hanamaki mutters, and Hajime sees the smirk on his face.

“Uh huh. You and me, _Hanamaki_ ,” Matsukawa continues with a matching grin. Hajime feels like he’s missing something.

The group trudges onward, Oikawa turning back to march with purpose down the stream. He isn’t an optimist, but something about Oikawa’s endless enthusiasm makes him want to believe.

“Look!” Oikawa says as they round the bend in the river. There’s a large block of ice in the middle of the raging rapids, and Hajime is glad their ship didn’t come through this direction because he isn’t sure how they would have been able to navigate them.

The quartet quickly makes their way towards the ice, Oikawa streaming ahead with the rest lagging behind him.

“Oikawa, we’re in the South Pole, remember?” Hanamaki pipes up from behind. “There’s ice everywhere.”

“I know, but look at how it’s shaped!” 

The block of ice, now that Hajime is looking at it closer, is actually split cleanly down the middle. There’s an empty space in the center of the iceberg, enough for a person to step into if they really wanted to.

“Yeah, that definitely didn’t split naturally,” Hajime lifts a hand to his chin thoughtfully. “Waterbending, or judging by the clean cut, powerful firebending.”

“And look at how the water goes around it,” Oikawa is pointing at the bottom of the ice, where the rapids are almost bending away from it. “It was definitely created through bending. Otherwise the current would have swept it down the river already.”

“So the Avatar has been trapped in an iceberg for the past hundred years,” Matsukawa deadpans.

“And he just suddenly decided he wanted out right now?” Hanamaki continues.

“We can’t question the Avatar’s motives,” Oikawa scolds them. “He must work in ways that we can’t comprehend with the amount of wisdom he has.”

“Getting yourself stuck in an iceberg doesn’t sound very wise,” Matsukawa mutters.

Hajime breaks off from the group, shivering as he leaves Hanamaki’s sphere of warmth and ventures towards the edge of the river. There’s evidence of life, with pieces of scorched driftwood set up like a makeshift campfire and depressions in the snow shaped like someone lying down. If he looks further out, Hajime can see footprints trudging away from the site going further down the river.

“Guys, someone definitely stayed here a while,” He calls over the three who are quickly making their way over to him. Oikawa brushes up against him as he begins inspecting the campsite.

“Two sets of footprints?” Oikawa mutters, eyebrows furrowing. “Weird.”

“I guess if he’s an old man by now he’s gonna need someone to help him get around,” Hanamaki shrugs. “Man, this whole situation feels off.”

“Well… Whatever! Let’s just follow these footprints before it starts snowing!” Oikawa says. “Whatever’s at the end of this trail will lead us straight to the Avatar, I know it!”

“Or we’re going to get ambushed by a neighboring water tribe,” Comes Matsukawa’s deadpan tone again.  
The quartet collectively shiver as a cold breeze blows in their faces. The fire in Hanamaki’s palm extinguishes and he has to light it again. Matsukawa is unsubtly pressing up against his side while Hajime scowls.  
“Oikawa, why don’t you walk a little closer, not all of us are natural heaters,” Hajime snaps. 

Oikawa around, the shit-eating grin on his face that makes Hajime want to punch it off of him.

“Awww, is Iwa-chan cold?” He teases, taking up Hanamaki’s example and lighting a flame in his hand as well. “You only had to ask me to use my firebending!”

Hajime reaches up to smack him lightly on the back of his head, face blank as the firebender whines loudly. Snickers echo from the two in the back of the group.

-

There are a cluster of tents behind a wall of snow that almost makes it look like a tiny village. It’s nothing like the temple he grew up in, and it’s a lot smaller than the towns he’d see soaring over the Earth Kingdom. However, Shouyou is excited for the opportunity to talk to people from the South Pole.

It isn’t that Tobio is terrible company, he’s just a little awkward. Which is fine, Shouyou thinks he just hasn’t warmed up (haha, because he’s a firebender) to him yet. He’s guessing that something bad happened between him and his crewmates, because why else would the Prince of the Fire Nation be wandering around the South Pole all alone? He has decided, however, to not press any further on the topic. It seemed like Tobio was reluctant to share much about what happened on the ship.

So Shouyou secures his glider to the back of his clothes, rubbing at his nose which feels like it’s going to fall off at any moment. He hopes the people in those tents will be able to spare a jacket, because he’s walking so close to Tobio for warmth it’s starting to get a little embarrassing.

“There’s the entrance,” Tobio points out gruffly. There’s a section of the snow wall that has collapsed, and Shouyou wonders what the point of the wall is if it’s exposed on one side. Aren’t there any waterbenders around here that can patch it up?

Shouyou voices this thought out loud, and he can nearly feel Tobio stiffen beside him.

“My brother told me… A couple years back, they captured any waterbenders they could find from the Southern Water Tribes.” He says quietly. “They took them back to the Fire Nation. I don’t know what happened to them after that.”

A cold sensation spreads through his body. “I don’t remember that,” He mutters.

“I think that you’ve been in the ice for a while, Hinata,” Tobio says softly. “There’s a lot of stuff you don’t seem to know.”

He doesn’t get a chance to reply, because there’s suddenly a blaring noise piercing the air. Almost like an animal howling, or maybe a horn?

Immediately the fire in Tobio’s hand turns cold blue, and Shouyou jumps back at the sight. Tobio squares his feet in an offensive pose, but Shouyou only looks around wildly for the source of the noise.

“Fire Nation!” Someone’s voice booms. Shouyou whips his head to the voice, coming from the top of the snow wall.

The person is a young man dressed in blue clothing. He’s illuminated by the moonlight, and Shouyou can see a shaved head and angry expression with tribal markings on his cheeks.

Tobio growls next to him, and Shouyou frowns. “I’m not Fire Nation!” He cups his hands around his mouth so that his voice carries. “My name’s Hinata Shouyou!”

“I don’t care!” The man booms back. “You and your Fire Nation friend are going down!” 

“Wait-” Shouyou begins, but is interrupted by Tobio swiftly moving in front of him. The firebender inhales before he swings his leg in a circular motion, the small blue flame exploding as exhales and moves his arms along with his leg. It creates a ring of azure fire around the two of them, and Shouyou feels heat licking at the back of his neck. Sweat prickles on his forehead, something that he hasn’t experienced since waking up in the iceberg.

The young man is shouting, holding a small weapon in one hand that Shouyou is becoming increasingly concerned about as he leaps down from the snow wall and charges forward. He leans his head around Tobio, who is obscuring his view because of how unfairly tall he is.

The weapon turns out to be a boomerang, something small but potentially deadly as he hurtles it towards the two inside of the ring of fire. Shouyou quickly steps out from behind Tobio, moving his arms to create a channel of air to steer the boomerang off course and off to the side.

“S-Stop!” Shouyou squeaks. “We just wanna talk!”

“No we don’t,” Tobio growls.

“You’re just saying that so I’ll let my guard down for you to destroy my village!” The man barks, and Shouyou shrinks back at how intimidating he is, seemingly unaffected by the fire that could burn him to a crisp if he takes a step closer. “Leave!”

“Listen!” Shouyou exclaims, stepping closer to the man (and the fire by association). “We- We just need a place to stay for the night! I just woke up, and Tobio’s ship was ruined and it was kind of my fault, so-”

“ _T_ _anaka, what the hell?!_ ”

There’s two more people charging towards them now, and Shouyou is starting to feel a little dizzy. “Tobio! Put the fire away! You’re making this worse!” He whispers harshly. 

Tobio’s face is scrunched up in displeasure at the notion, but he sighs loudly, the breath morphing into an exhale as he moves his hands down, effectively extinguishing his blue flames. Shouyou lets out a breath as well, not realizing he’d been holding it.

The man with the shaved head is grinning sharply, and it reminds Shouyou of a shark. “Look over here Daichi, we’ve got a couple of scaredy cat intruders over here!”

The two men come up from behind Tanaka, one with dark hair and one with silver. They are both dressed in blue garments as well, but the dark-haired one has his hood up and the shadow it casts over his face makes him look ready to commit murder. Or it could be his terrifying expression too.

“Are you seriously provoking _firebenders_ right now?!” The dark-haired one, presumably Daichi, barks.

“We’re sorry about him,” The silver-haired one speaks up, looking a lot more at ease than Shouyou feels right now. “What can we help you with?”

“Why do we have to be civil with the Fire Nation?” Tanaka grumbles, moving to retrieve his fallen weapon in a mound of snow to their left.

“Oh come on Tanaka, they’re just kids,” The silver-haired man huffs.

“Hi, I’m Hinata Shouyou!” Shouyou says again, voice a little less shaky because the man with silver hair seems a lot less likely to chop his head off with a boomerang. “And this is Tobio! We’re sorry about the fire-”

“- No we’re not-” Tobio interjects.

“- But we just saw smoke from the river over there and followed it, hoping it’d lead us to people and well… Here we are!” Shouyou finishes, grinning sheepishly.

The man with silver hair smiles, amused. “I’m Sugawara Koushi, this is Daichi Sawamura,” He points at the one with dark hair, then gestures over to where the man with shaved head is digging in the snow, “That’s Tanaka Ryuunosuke, and we really are sorry about him, he’s just… Excitable.”

“Wait, wait, hold on!” Tanaka shouts from where he’s knelt in the snow. He’s retrieved his boomerang, which he holds in his left hand as he leaps to his feet, pointing at Shouyou. “That short kid isn’t a firebender! I just saw him airbend!”

“I’m still growing!” Shouyou retorts, and he glares at Tobio miserably failing to hide his laughter behind a series of coughs.

“Airbend?” Daichi says, crossing his arms. He’s wearing a blue coat that is left open in the middle, hood pulled over his head so that only his bangs are showing. “Are you sure you’re not just sleep-deprived, Tanaka?”

“I’m serious!” Tanaka snaps. “I swear, he made my boomerang fly in another direction! Boomerang would never betray me like that.”

“I think he’s telling the truth,” Sugawara says, and he steps forward so that he’s standing in front of Shouyou. He notices a beauty mark underneath his eye as a gloved hand pushes his orange bangs away from his forehead. “Look at his tattoos! I’ve only seen this in history books!”

“Well, that doesn’t excuse the firebender over here,” Daichi says, and Shouyou hasn’t noticed that he’s been staring down Tobio. Despite being taller, Shouyou can tell that Tobio is unsettled by the man from the way he’s leaning back and his mouth is twitching with the effort to maintain eye contact.

“Come on Daichi, isn’t it crazy we have an Air Nomad in our presence?” Sugawara pinches at Shouyou's cheeks, who squawks indignantly and tries to scramble away. He laughs at the display, his smile crinkling the corners of his eyes. “Sorry, sorry! You’re just so cute!”

Tanaka rejoins the group, and leans over to inspect Shouyou as well. Another wicked grin spreads across his face. “Well? Why don’t you show off your airbending moves again, Shrimpy? Impress us and we’ll let you in!”

“Really?!” Shouyou exclaims.

“Mhm, you’ve gotta do something really cool though,” Tanaka says.  
Daichi and Tobio look over, seeming to have broken their staring contest. “Just don’t get yourself hurt,” The elder says sternly. “It’s still dark out.”

Shouyou gulps, then detaches the glider from his clothes and takes a couple steps back. He feels nervous all of a sudden, three more sets of eyes staring at him intently. With Tobio it was fine, and he wasn’t really thinking about anything other than impressing the Fire Prince. Shaking his head free of doubt, Shouyou taps his staff against the icy ground, fan-like wings once more detaching from the sides.

“Woah!” Sugawara says. “Wings!”

“It’s cool,” Tobio says with a firm nod.

Shouyou feels heat rise on his cheeks, and doesn’t let himself think about it too long as he launches himself up into the air with a gust of wind. He hears a whoop echo through the night below him, and sees Tanaka pumping his fist in the air while shouting.

“Damn, he’s really an airbender!” Tanaka exclaims. “Hey, do you think…”

Shouyou doesn’t hear the end of his sentence, too occupied with the feeling of being in the air. The familiar swooping sensation in his stomach is no longer scary like it used to be when he’d just started out, it only makes him giddy with adrenaline now. There’s a grin on his face as he whips through the air, wind ruffling through his orange bangs.

Though something in the distance catches his gaze, and he slows down the glider’s motions a fraction. Two orange lights are flickering along the river he and Tobio had just come from. It’s coming from a group of people, walking in pairs on foot. Further down the river, he can see the tips of what seems to be a Fire Nation vessel poking out from behind a structure of ice.

“Fire Nation,” Shouyou whispers, and tilts his glider so it takes him back to the group.

“That was freakin’ cool, Shorty!” Tanaka tells him as soon as his feet land on the ground, and slaps him hard on the back for good measure.

“Th-Thanks,” Shouyou says, “But I saw something while I was up there! It looked like a Fire Nation ship, with people heading our way!”

“Fire Na- Urgh,” Tobio begins, and then begins to sway. “Fi- Fire Nati- F-Fuck, Kunimi--”

The firebender abruptly crumples to the floor, and Daichi gives a shout of surprise as he topples by his feet. “What the fuck?” He blurts out, stumbling back so he doesn’t step on Tobio’s jet-black hair.

“Tobio!” Shouyou cries, moving so that he’s standing over his head with his arms awkwardly held up, unsure of what to do. “Oh no, I think he hit his head or something while getting me out of the ice! He-He’s been using his firebending this whole time to keep us warm, I didn’t think-- It must’ve been taxing...”

“Getting you out of the...” There is a hysteric edge to Daichi’s voice. The man shakes his head, “Okay, nope, can’t focus on that right now. Did they look like soldiers to you?”

Sugawara has taken off a glove and is currently lifting up one of Tobio's eyelids while Tanaka has his boomerang at the ready in case the firebender wakes up and shoots flames at them in confusion. In his defence, it’s pretty likely to happen.

“I’m not sure, they were too far away for me to see… I saw them using fire though, so they might be firebenders.” Shouyou reports.

“Alright, let’s…” Daichi looks down at the passed out firebender and sighs. “I guess I’ll take him to the infirmary. Suga, Tanaka, you guys stay out here.”

“Wait, what about me?” Shouyou raises his hand.

Daichi only gives him a grimace, reaching down to lug Tobio over his shoulder like he’s luggage. Sugawara stands up to put a hand on his shoulder sympathetically. “You can follow Daichi to the infirmary, Shouyou . I have a feeling they’re coming for you.”

Dread settles in his stomach. “W-Why me?” Asks Shouyou .

“The Fire Nation is bent on capturing any benders who can’t make fire,” Tanaka seethes, face drawn into a glower. “We aren’t letting them get to you too, Shouyou .”

“Come on,” Daichi says, and Shouyou is impressed that he’s able to carry Tobio even with heavy Fire Nation armor. “I’ll leave you two in the infirmary, and you can watch over your friend while we deal with this, alright?”

Despite Tanaka’s grim determination and Daichi’s comforting tone, Shouyou is unsettled by the change in atmosphere. He’s still confused how long he’s been gone, why the notion of firebenders is enough to spark a fight or flight response in these people. He thinks Tobio is nice enough, a little awkward but he’s not a _monster_.

The airbender swallows, scratching against his dry throat. It feels like there’s something hanging heavy over his head, a secret that the world is keeping quiet. Then again, he’s been keeping his own secret too, so he doesn’t mind waiting a little longer to uncover the truth. He’ll wait for Tobio to recover, and then he’ll go home and ask his mom what’s going on.

With a decisive nod, he trudges after Daichi to the infirmary. A cold gust of air hits him as he enters the tiny village that makes his teeth chatter. Without Tobio’s fire, he’s starting to realize just how cold this place is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im just gonna say now that none of this is beta'd.... lmfaoo  
> i hope you enjoyed reading!! :)


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